


Blue Lips, Blue Veins

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Series: Don't Let's Start Adjacent [14]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Horror, Clones, Gen, Kuron (Voltron)-centric, Kuron is Ryou (Voltron), Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-23 17:56:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: (The most human color)The team find the clone factory.





	Blue Lips, Blue Veins

**Author's Note:**

> Yeaaaah, I've actually been sitting on this one for over a year. The original draft stalled out because I wasn't sure if I wanted to really go fully dark, but also I didn't want a cop-out. This is the version that feels satisfying to me, and not A huge thanks to Velkynkarma for sitting through a lot of my lamenting and whining and general flailing on this one. Your patience is saintly and appreciated.
> 
> Happy Halloween!

"Alright," Pidge murmurs, her eyes narrow behind the glass of her helmet. Her entire body is tense, each tap on her keyboard violent. "I think- there."

The doors open, revealing a metal passageway ahead. One that gives way into open air only a few feet out.

Ryou stays rooted to the spot, staring through. His heart pounds in his throat as he looks over, eyes darting from the dark metal doors to what they can see of the room ahead. He takes in every tube and panel, and the dark, star-thick horizon beyond.

Finally, his shoulders slump, and he swallows hard.

This is where he was made, but Ryou doesn’t recognize any of it. He  _ should, _ but he doesn’t. This place is too open to match his memories.

What he does remember is fractured. Flashes of moments - red lights, a Galra in a mask watching him clinically, purple liquid and glass between him and the world. His own face, eyes open and blank, laid out on a table-

A hand settles on his back. Ryou nearly jumps out of his skin, but he sees the blur of orange that's Coran's hair and mustache from the corner of his eye.

"Steady there, Number One Point-" Coran cuts the name off, wincing.

Yeah, kind of an awkward nickname at the moment.

Ryou offers him a thin smile in response, then looks over at Shiro. The rest of the group is waiting for them to step forward, letting them be the ones to start this. 

Shiro meets his eyes. Even in the dim lighting of the facility, he's noticeably pale. His brows raise, and his head tilts to the side in an unspoken question -  _ 'you sure you don't want to back out? Last chance.' _

Ryou swallows. Then he steps forward.

The entrance way is bare metal, the dark purple kind favored by the Galra. Just beyond it is a staircase that leads down to a huge platform, all of which overlooks the swirling, calm planet below.

The platform is covered in darkened pods.

Dozens of them line the platform. Below that, there's another floor with just as many. Beyond, Ryou can't see, but he wouldn't be surprised if it went further.

Ryou walks forward, feet moving on their own and head feeling too light to stay on his body. There’s static in his ears, which would frighten him except he recognizes the feeling of an oncoming anxiety attack.

"Oh," Hunk murmurs, his hand coming up over his mouth. "That's- are all those...?"

"I don't know," Pidge says quietly. Her fingers blur with the speed she types on her keyboard. "They're all dark, so maybe not. I'm trying to get into Haggar’s notes now. Give me a minute."

Yeah, Ryou's not going to sit around and wait. His feet keep going, and he vaguely hears other footsteps behind him. They're identical in gait at least for the moment. His fault - he’s falling into old habits.

Ryou touches the closest pod.

At his proximity, a light flickers on.

Inside, pale, unmoving, is a clone of Shiro.

He has both his arms and no scars.

Beside him, Shiro comes to a halt and hisses like air escaping a tire. Another set of footsteps coming jogging closer, then stop as well. 

"Can we..." Keith pauses, sounding unsure. "Can we get him out? Is he...?"

As he steps over, the pod next to Ryou flickers on. Then the next one, and the next one, until the whole section is lit up.

Each has its own Shiro.

Ryou had assumed, right when he understood his nature, that he was the only clone. It had seemed absurd that there could be many others. It had to take time. Resources. Management. Energy. Ryou was probably the first of a dozen or so, and the only one to come out functional. So they'd kicked him out and tested if he'd survive.

He hadn't, even for a moment, seriously considered that there could be more. Maybe one, at worst, but even that he'd doubted. He'd been discovered. Why try a failed experiment again?

Apparently Haggar had tried many, many times.

Denial. Only now, does Ryou realize he’d been in denial. They all had.

When there’s no response, Keith turns to the others. "Can we get him out? Pidge, Hunk?"

"I... I don't know if that's a good idea," Lance says faintly.

There was a pause. "We're not just going to leave them in there, right?" Hunk asked. "I mean, we don't really have a plan, and I don't know if the castle can hold this many people all at once. But it's really weird to just find them and them walk away like we didn't see anything."

Footsteps come closer, until Lance is shoulder to shoulder with Ryou. He reaches out and splayes his hand over the glass, right over clone's abdomen.

For the first time, Ryou really looks at the clone, and not just at the general shape of him. Shock had clouded his vision, horror had distracted him, so he hadn't seen any kind of detail.

Now, he sees how the clone's stomach is caved inward, making the jumpsuit hang limply where it should be tightly filled.

It looks like someone had taken a scoop out of this clone, then left the rest intact.

"Oh," Hunk murmurs. Footsteps stumble back, and he lets out a soft choking noise. A moment later, he audibly gags. "Oh. Yeah. That's- maybe not. Bad idea, probably."

"Why..." Shiro's voice cracks. He pauses and swallows, then tries again. "He is alive at all? I can't tell if he's breathing in that liquid."

Coran clears his throat. "If you'd like me to look through the data, Number Five..."

"No." There's no emotion at all to Pidge's voice, only steely, clinical professionalism. It makes the shivers in Ryou’s gut grow worse. "I've got it. What's the number on this pod?"

Ryou frowns, then looks down at the pod. "Uh..." It takes him a moment to find the small plaque on the side, and another to collect enough of his brain to translate the Galran numbers into Earth ones. "223." 

223.

Is that-

Allura steps over to the next one, her hands tentative as she brushes the metal. When she sees Ryou's gaze, she winces. "224," she says, very softly.

Clone number 224.

Ryou can't even bare to look over, yet. He should see the next one, but his eyes are still stuck to the sunken stomach of this clone. "Pidge?" He calls again, only barely managing to keep a quake out of his voice.

There's a very long pause. Then Pidge takes a deep breath. "He's on life support. He won't be able to survive without the pod."

"Why?" Shiro asks immediately, nearly before she's finished the sentence. He turns, his hands clenching at his side. "Why is Haggar bothering to keep this one alive, then?"

Lance winces. "Shiro, hey." His eyes dark to Ryou, like he expects him to be flinching.

Ryou isn't. He wants to know the same thing. If this clone is a failure, if he can't live outside a tank, why is Haggar wasting the resources to keep him alive? Dump the body and move on. The weak die, the strong live. It's the Galra way.

He turns around just as Pidge closes her eyes and swallows hard. Then she draws herself back up. "He was designated for parts," Pidge reported, still in that shockingly professional voice. "A lot of them were. From what it looks like, the aging process was difficult on the clones. Sometimes certain organs wouldn't... keep up. So she started... recycling."

Which meant that-

Ryou's hand clutches at his stomach. He doesn't dare turn around and look at the clone behind him. "She reused...?"

It's bad enough that Ryou wears Shiro's face and had his memories. Bad enough he's stolen those things from Shiro, played them out like they belonged to him. Maybe his organs aren't even his. Maybe his were torn from fellow clones and shoved into him until they finally had a working model. Maybe his stomach is what the clone in front of him is missing.

For one wild moment, Ryou’s fingers tense like he’s going to tear into himself. Rip out all the pieces that don’t belong to him, and give them back in some sick parody of fairness. If they’re stolen, he doesn’t  _ want _ them. He doesn’t want anything that isn’t his. He didn’t mean to steal them, he didn’t mean to steal anything, he knows he isn’t supposed to, he’ll give them back-

A hand settles on Ryou's arm. 

He jumps and yanks back, only to see Shiro standing with his hand out. "Hey," Shiro says, very quiet. He wants until Ryou’s eyes fully focus before he goes on. "You didn't know. You don't have to know. Do you want to head back?"

Shouldn't he? Shouldn't Ryou at least live with the knowledge, if he's walking around with someone else's organs? At least he gets to walk and be his own person. None of these clones had. So he shakes his head firmly, trying to stop the shiver in his hands.

"Ryou." Shiro squeezes his arm harder, making him look up. Ryou meet Shiro's gaze numbly. "You're you. You're just you. You are your own person. Nothing else matters."

What is Shiro doing. Why is he comforting  _ Ryou? _ This is a house of horrors, where every corpse wears his face. It's the ultimate example of how little Haggar cares for Shiro's bodily autonomy, again and again and again. She'd made hundreds of copies of him and played with them all like dolls.

"Maybe we should step away for a moment," Allura suggests firmly. She watches them both, hovering like she wants to reach out but thought better of it. The other clenches at her side like she’s hiding a tremble too.

Ryou shakes his head. "No. The longer we stay here, the greater chance we trigger an alarm, especially a silent one. Haggar could notice. We can't risk it." They'd walked into her special clone factory and gone through her files. They were lucky if she didn’t know already. Any delays only put them all in danger.

"Perhaps a summary, then." Coran says. "I don't think we should spend the time to walk to each one individually. I don't see what that accomplishes, to subject ourselves to that and make a spectacle over these poor beings. They deserve their dignity as preserved as we can manage."

Lance clears his throat and raises his hand, like this is a classroom and not a clone factory. He moves in so his shoulder just barely doesn't brush Ryou's. "Or, I mean... is it possible to do like, control 'f', alive? Just find the ones that are living. The rest... there's not a lot we can do for them."

Still covering his face, Hunk shakes his head and sits down hard on the metal floor. "They're all alive, remember? Haggar's kept them that way. So that'd turn up all of them."

"I mean the not brain dead ones, whatever. Look for anyone who could survive outside of the pods." Lance waves an impatient hand. "Something! Whatever makes this faster and doesn't abandon someone."

Pidge considers, brow furrowing as she looks over the data. "Well, I can't search by that. This clone isn't brain dead, either. But a lot of them are. I guess we can just filter out the ones that are for parts, and the ones that are brain dead." She taps on her projected screen.

Meanwhile, Ryou grabs Shiro by the shoulder and pulls him in, trying to offer some of the same comfort Shiro is providing for him. Their shoulders crash together, armor clacking with an unusual lack of grace on both their parts.

"How many does that leave?" Allura asks, stepping over to Pidge's side. Her eyes dart to Shiro and Ryou, and then up to the sky, like she's looking for Haggar having detected they’re on the facility. 

Pidge frowns. She looks over the group one more time before reporting, "41."

Shiro lets out another one of those hisses, his eyes slamming shut. "Out of how many total, Pidge?"

Clearing his throat, Coran winces. "Perhaps it's best not to know-"

"How many?"

"344." Pidge swallows hard. "There were 344 clones. Not all of them were kept in a pod after. There are about 268 of those."

303 clones that were either dead on arrival, brain dead, or only useful for parts.

303 copies of Shiro, made against his will, and 303 versions of Ryou who never got the chance to be people.

Hunk scrubs over his face, looking distinctly green. "So there are 40-ish Shiros to go get, then? That's still a lot, but it's closer to reasonable."

"Well, I don't know, actually." Pidge starts to step further into the facility, heading toward the far edge. "Most of them have a weird designation. I don't know what it means, and her notes don't really say. It's just called... farming. Those are this way."

Keith shoots forward and overtakes Pidge. Then he holds out a hand to stop her. "Wait. It should be Shiro and Ryou's call what to do next."

"No one can decide until we know what 'farming' means," Pidge points out, her jaw tight. "There’s 38 of them, and most of those are just over here."

"Wait." Keith glances back at the rest of the group. "Just... wait. I think we need a minute."

Ryou opens his mouth to say he's fine, but he catches sight of just how bloodless Shiro's face is. So he nods and holds on tighter. 

"Hey,” he says. When Shiro looks over, Ryou knocks their helmets together. "We're going to make sure she doesn't do this again."

Those aren't the words Ryou had meant to say. Honestly, he hadn't planned anything. He'd just opened his mouth and spoken. But the second he says it, he knows it's true. They'll get out who they can, what they can, and then this whole place is going to burn. Looking around, just a few beams hold this whole place together. Cut them and the whole facility would break apart and get caught up in the swirling planet's gravity. Nothing of it would survive.

Considering the state of most of these clones, it would be a mercy.

Shiro blinks. Then his jaw sets, and his eyes blaze. "Yeah. We will. No more." But then his eyes dart around. "Not that Haggar can't make another lab."

"Actually, I don't believe she can." Allura does reach out now, resting her hand on Shiro's forearm. "She built this facility with the full resources of the Galra Empire, and the time she had for her own pursuits. Now she's essentially a fugitive, running off much more limited tools, and without the time to build something so complex and time consuming."

Hunk scrubs over his face and nods. "Yeah, a place like this doesn't pop up overnight. Unless she had another one already made and ready to go-" He pauses and winces, holding up his hands. "I don't think she does! Why have two? She didn't know she'd get caught. It would make no sense for her to build a duplicate and have to deal with both, when she was probably running off a 'make one, check on it, try to fix the mistakes, repeat' process."

Resting his head on Shiro's shoulder, Ryou takes a deep breath. He reaches out, palm open, and feels Lance's hand grab onto his own. "Okay. Let's save who we can. Farming isn't the same as designated for parts, so it has to be something else."

When Ryou takes a step forward, neither Shiro nor Lance let go. He ends up half-pulling them along, but he doesn't even try to tug away. He doubts either would let him, even if he wanted to.

Pidge watches, her eyes hidden behind the shine of her helmet. Then she nods and keeps going. This time, Keith lets her, and he falls into step with the rest of the procession.

It's a short walk to the nearest 'farm' clone. Apparently the top layer house the most recent clones, and most of the farming ones seem to be from later in the process. As they walk, more and more of the pods turn on. This time, Ryou does his best not to look, though more than once his eyes stray over.

Most of these clones look more intact. Other than the lack of scar, white hair, and arm, they would have been identical to Ryou. But the fact that they're passed over means one of Pidge's keywords caught them.

Either they were designated for parts and went unused before Haggar had to flee, or they're all brain dead.

Ryou closes his eyes and forces himself to look forward.

"Here," Pidge says. "289. The first farmed clone." She stands in front of the pod, gaze steady.

The light turns on.

The Shiro inside doesn't look like the others. This one looks withered. Not just old, like the aging went too far, but dried up. Mummified, like he's been drained of blood.

Pidge sets out a yelp and stumbles back. She loses her footing and scrambles away, until Hunk reaches down and steadies her with a hand.

"What the  _ hell _ did that?" Keith asks, his voice choked. He grabs hold of Shiro's elbow and holds on tightly.

Shiro stares, what little blood remaining in his face gone. He looks like he's about to faint.

Ryou understands that completely.

Using his hold on Shiro's arm, Ryou tugs them both down, pulling until Shiro sits on the floor before he can fall over. He keeps his grip, then looks back at the clone.

The sight is no less horrific, despite being prepared the second time. The clone's bones jut out from paper-thin skin, eyes sunken, hair thin.

"You filtered out the dead?" Coran asked Pidge, barely over a whisper.

Pidge nodded. "I did. He's... he's still alive, technically."

.... _ How? _

Farming. This clone was farmed for something. Not blood, not organs, not parts. Something else. Something that someone else needed, and that Haggar could get from draining this person.

A thought occurs, so sudden that Ryou's vision darkens. He lists to the side, and only doesn't fall over because his shoulder hit Shiro's.

"Ryou?" Lance kneels down next to him, hand on Ryou's shoulder. "You okay? ...Alright, stupid question. Do you need a minute?"

"No." Ryou tries to wave him off, but gives up almost immediately. Instead he turns to Pidge. "Maybe you should give Coran the data, now."

Pidge frowns, and opens her mouth to argue. 

But before she can, Shiro looks up. "Please, Pidge. Let’s not make this harder. Give the data to Coran."

For a moment, Pidge looks deeply rebellious. Then she sighs and hands the laptop over to Coran.

Coran nods to them both, shoulders drawing up as he accepts the new responsibility - and burden. Then starts to scroll through the data. "What do you want to look for?"

"I want to know a number." Ryou takes a deep breath, then lets it out so long that his lungs ache for being fully empty. "Search up Y0XT39, please."

Brows up, Coran types that in. Then he stills, and lets out a soft 'ah.' "What exactly is it you need to know, Ryou?"

Ryou relaxes, relieved that Coran isn't going to read his personal information out. "Was I made before or after this clone?"

Head tilted, Coran checks. Then he frowns. "Very shortly before."

There it was.

Ryou rubs a hand over his face, blocking his view of the clone. "Quintessence. They were farming for Quintessence. Haggar knew mine was too weak, so she was probably trying to get as much as she could and create a clone that could actually fly Black."

Allura's hands fly to her mouth. "Oh,” she breathes out. “That would... To drain someone of their very life force..." She looks nearly as ill as Hunk had earlier.

The Quintessence of a being matches who they are. Their personality, their strengths. It’s a resonance frequency that the universe itself can ready, to the point the lions use it to choose their bonded.

It’s the closest measurable thing to a soul that Ryou knows of.

And these had it sucked out of them to make a better Ryou. Because he was a failure, designed to be tested and then left to die for data.

Lance resumes his grip on Ryou’s shoulder, but he barely feels the pressure. It’s there, but far away. 

Suddenly, Shiro stands, pulling away. He dodges Ryou’s instinctive grab for his hand, and waves away Keith when he comes closer. Instead, he steps with unusually clumsy purpose toward the railings, ducking behind a couple of the pods. They flicker on from his proximity but Shiro doesn’t even look up at them.

Instead, he heads to the railing of the facility, just out of view. Then there’s the faint sound of retching.

Hunk winces and lets out a sympathetic noise, then pointedly turns his head away, down at his feet. 

They all do Shiro the favor of pretending they can’t hear what’s happening.

With his brother gone, the empty space next to Ryou feels oddly cold. It’s imagined, because he couldn’t possibly feel body heat through both their armor. But a shiver still runs through him.

“Okay,” Lance says quietly, half like it’s to himself. He swallows, then repeats, “Okay.” This time, his voice is more collected. With one last glance at the withered clone, he looks to Coran. “That’s not all of them, right? There was... I don’t remember how many. But it didn’t add up.”

“There’s three more,” Pidge agrees flatly. Now that she doesn’t have her laptop, her hands twitch as if she doesn’t know what to do with them. Finally she crosses her arms, like the physical brace can keep her together.

Coran’s lips press. “Yes. They’re further down.” 

“One moment.” Allura hesitates, then takes a step forward. She places one hand on the glass, looking over the pod with open pity in her eyes. “The problem is Quintessence. That’s not unlike the problem the Balmera had, correct? Would it be possible...?” She bites her bottom lip. “Can I help?”

The question is so plainly, pleadingly spoken that Ryou’s heart goes out to her, despite the heavy weight of all the other emotions crowding him. From the corner of his eye he sees everyone else look to Coran, through Ryou doesn’t follow.

There’s a long pause. “It would depend on how much and how long they’ve been drained,” Coran finally says, each word painstakingly chosen. “And for the physical signs to have developed this far, I would think it... unlikely. I’m also not certain of the side effects, but they would be dire.”

“Just say no,” Ryou says. The sound of his own voice is wrong - flat and rough. Toneless. As drained as the other clone.

Coran sucks in a breath. “I’m saying I’m not sure. Merely that it’s unlikely. And if it is possible- well. I’m not the final expert in what would be an acceptable quality of life. I don’t think that’s my call to make.”

“No one has to make that choice yet,” Keith says firmly. “Let’s finish up. And if we get through this without setting off any alarms, then we can leave them here for now. Turn off the energy drain or whatever until we can figure out how to do this safely.” He leaves off ‘if at all’.

Lance’s fingers tighten on Ryou’s shoulder, but the sensation is still barely there. “Right. Yeah. Let’s just... go and be done. Three more, and then we go.” His grip shifts as he turns. “Ah, I mean, when everyone’s ready.”

Footsteps come closer. “I’m ready,” Shiro says. His voice is rough, likely just as much from emotion as from bile. He stops next to Ryou, not quite close enough to touch. “Everyone else?”

From the silence that comes after, it’s clear ‘everyone’ is actually a gentle way of saying ‘Ryou’.

Finally, Ryou looks up and focuses on the pod. Allura hasn’t stepped away, her fingers curled against the glass as if moving away means giving up on the idea completely. But his eyes fall onto the sunken version of his own face - or, rather, Shiro’s face. Even through the liquid, it’s clear his skin is pale and paper-thin. It hangs off him, a size too large, and each and every bone is a sharp, visible jut.

Because of Ryou.

This clone had done  _ nothing _ to deserve this. He’d just been made, and been a resource to toy with. His fate is entirely because of Ryou’s failings, because of his weakness. If he had just been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.

_ I’m sorry, _ he thinks, with the same useless desperation he’d felt while begging the Black Lion to respond.

No movement. No acknowledgement. There couldn’t be.

Even so, Ryou’s heart sinks.  _ I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish I had been stronger. I never meant for this to happen. _

The clone doesn’t - can’t - respond. Realistically, they never could. Even if they could understand Ryou, even if he could say this out loud, it would only be cruel to dump that knowledge on them.

So Ryou can only repeat it in his head, loudly as he can think, as if it’s anything but useless.

Finally, he pushes himself painstakingly to his feet. His legs wobble, but he keeps his balance, waving off any attempts to help. “Ready.”

“Are you-” Shiro cuts himself off before he even finishes the question. Likely, he recognizes that any response he’s going to get won’t be helpful. So he sighs and nods, setting his shoulders as he goes. He pauses and murmurs something quick to Allura as he passes, and she gives him a nod and finally, reluctantly, drops her hand before following.

Ryou wishes he had something to say to Shiro. He’s suffering from this, as openly as he gets. For him to publicly be sick means he’s already past his limit. He doesn’t need to have to be strong on top of that.

But Ryou can only see the shrivelled face of the brother who’d been drained because of him, and walk past the darkened pods of several dozen more.

He’s just as useless here as his apologies were for the withered clone.

“Alright,” Coran finally says, quiet as if speaking too loudly will wake something. “This is the end. 342, and-”

Ryou follows his gaze, and his stomach sinks.

Pod 342 is dark and still as the others. But 343 and 344 are both empty - not of clones, but of pods altogether. There are two blank spaces, with only bases left behind.

Ryou blinks at the space, utterly uncomprehending. His mind isn’t working fast enough, each thought sluggish as if he’s fighting a current. “Coran?”

“I’m not sure,” Coran says. He types as quickly on the laptop as he can with only one hand, since he has to hold it with the other. “There’s no records. They’re designated for further testing, and that’s all.”

Shiro closes his eyes. “Haggar took them.” His voice is tired, and worse than that, it’s resigned. “When she fled after the empire collapsed, she must have taken them.”

Stomach sinking, Ryou slams his eyes shut. Two clones, who may or may not be viable. Who may or may not have Shiro’s recorded memories and identical forms.

Whatever is happening to them, it’s nothing good.

“It would be dumb of her to try the same thing twice, right?” Hunk asks. His fingers lace together tightly as he shifts from foot to foot. “It already didn’t work one time, and now we know it’s coming. “

Pidge frowns. “Shiro’s arm shouldn’t be recording anymore, either. Not since that fight with Zarkon. So we can set up some sort of code, just in case.”

It’s a good plan. Ryou nods slowly. “Yeah. And maybe...” Maybe something else, something neither he nor Shiro knows, so that even if Haggar is recording either of their memories again, she can’t duplicate it. 

But Ryou suspects Hunk is right. Haggar isn’t the one to reuse a failed strategy. There’s far more uses for a pair of kept clones of the Champion and Black Paladin.

Pushing that away, Ryou focuses instead on pod 342. “We’ll plan later. This isn’t the time. Those two are gone, but there’s one more.”

With that, Ryou steels himself and steps forward, placing his hand on the glass.

Inside is Shiro.

Dark hair, with white bangs. A prosthetic on his right side, identical to Shiro’s. The deep scar sliced into the bridge of his nose - and another sneaks out just over the top of his Galra prisoner garb, one that Ryou doesn’t have, but that the original does. He looks healthy. It’s hard to tell inside the glass and liquid, but he might be an inch or so broader than Ryou.

A more perfect clone.

Simply left behind.

“He looks okay,” Lance says. His voice comes from very close behind Ryou, like he’s hovering just in case. “What does the report say?”

The sound of typing picks up behind them. “Further testing, like the other two,” Coran says slowly. “I don’t see any difference between the three just from the notes Haggar left. I’d have to dig in deeper to learn more. But as far as I can see, there’s nothing wrong with him physically.”

“So we could wake him up?” Lance asks.

There’s a long pause. “Is that a good idea?” Hunk asks, slowly and haltingly. “I know I didn’t want to leave them before, but.... I mean, we don’t fully know what he remembers, or what he’d think of us, or why Haggar just left him here. What if he’s...?” He trails off, distinctly guilty, and looks over at Ryou. “He might not be! But...”

“It’s fine,” Ryou says, just as flat as before. His hand goes to the panel on the side of the pod, just resting. “You’re right. He might be programmed to attack.”

Shiro steps up, chin held high. His eyes roam over the clone, the perfect replication of his physical form. “Maybe. But there’s lots of us and one of him, and he’ll be disoriented. We don’t know that he’s ever been conscious. We can stop him if he gets violent.”

That’s true enough. Ryou remembers those first few chaotic moments - blinking his eyes, when just a second ago he’d been in the Black Lion. Realizing the room was cold, metallic, purple - a Galra ship. He’d been clumsy, each step awkward in a way he’d written off as the side effects of drugs. He’d been shot at, but in hindsight they’d been aiming to miss. It was just a charade to keep him from getting suspicious.

“Just because Haggar put something in his head doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give him a chance,” Lance agrees firmly.

“I’m not saying he doesn’t!” Hunk insisted, voice choked. “I just mean we should be careful. Maybe take him back to the castle? We have those handcuffs we used on Ulaz, if we need them.”

Keith let out a low noise suspiciously like a growl. “If he thinks he’s Shiro, he shouldn’t wake up in cuffs.”

Shaking his head, Ryou turns. “Yes, he should. The panic is worth not hurting anyone. Trust me on that. If I’d hurt any of you because of the programming...”

He’d never be over it. Even now, thinking back, Ryou remembers a moment. A split second, right at the end, where he’d nearly turned on them. It had been a furious kernel of an instinct. Protect the arm. Protect the programming.

It had kicked in too late, but if it had been just a few seconds faster...

Ryou is pretty sure he wouldn’t have been welcome on the castle after, especially considering how rocky those first few days had been. Even if he had been, Ryou would have never trusted himself around them again.

“This is getting ahead of ourselves,” Allura said. “Do we even know how to move him? These aren’t like the pods in the Castle. What happens if we try to disconnect him?”

Coran types again, fingers flying frantically over the keyboard as he searches for an answer. Next to him, Pidge twitches like she wants to take the laptop back and do it herself. Either she thinks she could look it up faster, or she just wants to be the one to do it.

Finally, Coran nods. “There’s a protocol to disconnect. We’ll make sure it works, and then come pick him up in one of the lions.” Looking up, he meets Ryou’s eyes, then Shiro’s. “Are we ready?”

What else can they do?

“Yes,” Shiro confirms. Despite everything, his voice sounds steadier now - and not just the neutral, faked sort. His gaze turns back to the remaining clone and his spine straightens. One hand reaches out, fingers wrapping around Ryou’s wrist and holding on bracingly.

Slowly, as if Ryou’s thoughts have rusted over the past few minutes, he begins to follow Shiro’s logic. He sees the clone as more than Haggar’s plans and logistics.

This is a person. This is someone like him. Maybe they don’t know it yet, and maybe what’s in their head is wrong or twisted. But that’s not the end, because it wasn’t for Ryou.

Guilt twists in his stomach, and he has to bite back a sudden, wild laugh. He just did exactly what Shiro had done to Ryou those first few weeks. Saw this new clone as a danger, a threat to the team, a plot sent to hurt and undermine.

For all his attitude and mannerisms are different, some parts of Ryou never really changed an inch.

“Yeah,” Ryou agrees, the word croaking out of him. His eyes roam over the clone too, and for the first time there’s a kernal of warmth in his chest.

Maybe it’ll be hard. Maybe it’ll be complicated. But they can do this again, this time with greater understanding. They can  _ help _ this clone. Ryou can show him the path he’s already cut through, and guide him down it, or show him how to make his own.

They can make this a little bit right.

“Yeah,” Ryou repeats, firmer this time. “Let’s bring him home.”

Coran nods and taps on the laptop. “The process takes several dobashes,” he says. “We should remain here and make sure it works safely before we get the Black Lion.”

There’s a general murmur of agreement. Everyone is still tense, and the horror of the day hasn't even begun to fade. But the end is in sight, and now that there’s something concrete to do, the mood picks up at least a little.

Hunk inches in closer to Ryou, shoulders still slumped in and eyes wide. “I really didn’t mean how it sounded before,” he says, fingers tugging nervously on the edge of his headband. “Or, okay, but not just because he’s a clone or something. It doesn’t mean...” He trails off.

“I know,” Ryou says. He offers what would be a smile on a better day, but right now is just a vague curve to his lips. “I agree with you anyway. Seriously, it’s best to be safe. The alternative is so much worse.”

For a moment, Hunk studies his face. “Okay. I just wanted you to know that it’s not  _ you. _ That’s all.”

Ryou inclines his head. “I do know that.” 

“Good.”

Now that they’ve had a chance to speak, Lance pipes up. “You know, you and Shiro are going to have to come up with a third name, now.”

Oh, that’s true. Ryou perks and looks over at Shiro, brows up.

“Maybe this time around he’ll name himself,” Shiro offers evenly. He seems bolstered by the idea, eyes brightening another tiny degree. 

Ryou makes a disagreeing noise. “Considering how messed up his head will probably be? It’ll be some time before he can do something like that.”

Brows up, Shiro shrugs. “So? He can take his time. If he needs a name in the meantime, he can go by Takashi for a bit. I don’t mind.”

Immediately, venomous dislike bubbles up in Ryou’s stomach.  _ No. _ No clone should use Shiro’s name. It’s wrong. Even if it’s allowed, it’s  _ wrong. _ They should have their own identity and their own way to be addressed.

But now’s not the time for that. Ryou’s had that argument in more dire situations, maybe, but right now he just doesn’t have the energy.

“We’ll come up with something,” Keith says. “This is all assuming he even has Shiro’s memories yet. Coran didn’t say, so may-” He cuts off suddenly, brows furrowing. His head snaps down to look at his feet.

Instinctively, Ryou follows his gaze. All he sees are red and white boots on dark metal. “You okay?”

Keith shifts, then taps his boot against the floor. “Does anyone else feel that vibration?” His voice raises, including the whole group.

There’s immediately silence. Ryou closes his eyes, feeling for anything, but there’s nothing. 

“Nothing,” Lance says, head tilted. “You okay there?”

“That could be from the stress,” Hunk offers, his brow furrowing as he looks Keith over. “If you’re trembling and don’t notice. It can happen sometimes.”

But Allura steps forward, frowning deeply. “I believe I feel it as well.” She bends down and puts one palm to the floor. “It’s faint, but it’s there.”

Shiro copies the gesture, but it’s obvious he can’t feel anything. “Maybe it’s just from activating the equipment? It’s probably been just sitting here for a while.”

But Ryou’s stomach starts to sink. Altean and Galra engineering tends to be sturdier than that. Even after ten thousand years of sitting unattended and unshielded from the elements, the Castle of Lions had barely vibrated during take-off. This has only been a few months.

This feels wrong.

Immediately, Pidge holds out her hands for the laptop, which Coran returns. Her one-handed typing his noticeably faster. “I don’t see anything else in the facility activating except for this pod,” she says, so fast her words nearly run together. “But something has to be happening. Is it a steady vibration, or is it intermittent?” 

“Steady,” Keith says. “But it’s hard to tell-”

There’s a sudden, powerful jolt. Back the way they came, there’s the horrible sound of metal scraping on metal.

Ryou’s stomach sinks down to his feet. The hope from before, already fragile, withers.

Of course.

“We need to go,” Keith says, voice hardening into that burgeoning command voice he refuses to acknowledge.  _ “Now.” _

“Okay,” Lance says, taking a step closer to the pod. “How do we get this out of here?”

Pidge doesn’t even look over as she slams the laptop shut and shoves it into her backpack. “It won’t come out for nearly six more dobashes.”

Lance pauses, then frowns. “Then how-?”

Another jolt, this time so powerful that the entire metal flooring nearly bucks them off. Ryou flails, grabbing onto the pod with one hand, and instinctively catching Hunk before he goes tumbling.

There’s another metal shriek, and then a horrible shudder. To their left, an entire portion of the facility starts to float away, as if suddenly released into the gravity of the planet below. As it does, the distant form of the pods come loose and begin free fall.

“No!” Allura cries, taking a step toward the railing with her hand out - as if she can pluck their silhouetted forms from the void and pull them in close. “We have to-”

But Pidge grabs her by the other arm and tugs. “We have to go. It’s a trap. It was  _ always _ a trap.” She yanks, and pulls Allura along by just a step. After a moment, Allura stumbles forward another, and begins to move.

Lance hesitates, looking at the pod, then slams his eyes shut. As he starts to follow, his hand reaches back blindly for Ryou, but he misses even as he keeps going. Hunk’s hand on his back keeps him from turning around.

The rotten, icy remains of the hope settle like a rock in Ryou’s gut. He begins to move forward, following Coran and Keith, only to pause.

Shiro isn’t with them.

Shiro is still facing the pod, expression set and dark.

“Come on!” Ryou calls to him, half turning to face him better. “Shiro, this place is falling apart. We need to  _ go.” _

“Just a few dobashes.”

“We don’t  _ have-” _

Shiro’s head snaps toward him, expression twisted and thunderous. “I won’t give up on him!”

Ryou’s heart clenches, because he knows what Shiro really means.

_ I won’t give up on you. _

Looking at the slack form of the clone, still deeply asleep, Ryou makes one more silent apology. 

Then he snatches Shiro by the arm and yanks him in closer, practically baring his teeth in his brother’s face. “He wouldn’t want this. You can’t die here. You are the Black Paladin.  _ Act like it. _ Now go!” Ryou plants his hand between Shiro’s shoulder blades and shoves him forward, where everyone else has slowed their pace in confusion.

Shiro lets out a growl of his own, mixed pain and a bone-deep sadness. “He could be someone. He deserves a  _ chance-” _

The metal shearing noise comes again, this time painfully loud and close. Under them, the walkway shudders, then begins to drift backward.

Time’s up.

This time, Ryou’s furious shove gets Shiro going. He takes a reluctant step, then another, before he’s sprinting after the others with Ryou on his tail.

Each step in dangerous now. The footing moves under them, drifting inch by inch, and starting to list to the left. More than once, Ryou’s foot lands awkwardly, and he nearly goes tumbling. 

But the facility, all told, isn’t that long, and the entrance is bolted into the little moon itself. If they can get there, they’ll be safe.

Around them, more of the pods start to come loose. Most of them stay dark, but a few are lit from their earlier investigations. The clones inside don’t seem to wake, if they are even capable of such a thing anymore. They drift past in slow, silent spins, absurdly peaceful compared to the erupting chaos and the inevitable end below.

Allura and Pidge reach the entrance first, crossing the metal bridge that connects it to the facility. The door remains open, and they hover just outside of it. Coran, Keith, Lance, and Hunk all cross in a crowd, stumbling as the whole thing jolts and floats sickeningly.

As Shiro and Ryou start to cross, there’s a loud  _ snap _ ahead of them. Something in the construction of the walkway gives, and the metal ahead of them suddenly bends upward.

Just as Shiro steps over the bend, it cracks clean through.

The flooring gives out under Ryou’s feet, sending him into free fall. The distant gravity takes hold of him, but slowly. Enough time for him to reach out after his brother, for his feet to work in the open, inky blackness, and for his heart to catch in his throat.

As he floats, inches from safety, Ryou wants to laugh.

Maybe this is right. Maybe this is justice. Maybe he should die here, along with almost every one of his fellow clones. Maybe he should burn up in atmo or be crushed on landing, just like they will. Why should he be any different? Why should he get to claim his own personhood when they never got the opportunity? He stole their organs, their faces, their  _ chance. _ It’s almost poetic that he meets his end with them after all.

Something solid catches Ryou around the wrist.

Shiro leans off the edge of the snapped metal bridge, his entire torso hanging off to reach in time. His prosthetic hand grips the jagged lip, anchoring them both with the strength of it.

Seconds later, more people pile over, and more hands reach out. Lance, Pidge, Allura, Hunk, Coran, Keith.

Ryou takes one more moment to look back. Below him, now fully visible, the planet seems to glow. The huge, swirling clouds and blue seas cover most of the surface, broken up by the slowly falling pieces of the facility. Several dots continue to twirl along beside the debris - the very last of the pods.

Gone.

Ryou is the last, aside from the two still in Haggar’s care.

Swallowing hard, Ryou reaches up with his free hand, grasping the edge as well. He helps the team pull him back up and lets himself be drawn into a desperate embrace.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro murmurs into his hair, choked and quiet. Desperate. His tone is identical to the pleas Ryou has been making inside his own head. “I wanted to save him.”

Ryou’s eyes slam shut. He leans into the touch as moisture burns behind his lids. “I wanted that too.”

“Haggar was counting on that,” Keith says, sighing. “She knew after we took in Ryou that we’d sympathize with the clones. So she made the whole place break apart if we tried to save one.”

There is a long pause. 

“So this is our fault,” Lance says, voice very small.

“No.” Coran’s voice is firm and sure. “This fault is Haggar’s. We will not be trained to indifference by her. If the choice is between caring and not, I choose to care. Today and tomorrow and every moment going forward. I choose to keep going, and survive this, because anything else is exactly what she wants.”

Pidge lets out a furious noise, equal parts tears and hatred. “Every one of those deaths, before and after we got here, is on her. And she’ll pay for them.  _ Individually.” _

“And we’ll save the other two,” Shiro says firmly. His tone is the same stony determination that makes their wildest plans reality and helped him survive the arena. “We will.”

Ryou finally opens his eyes and looks around. Every member of the team is crowded around him and Shiro on the edge of this broken, jagged bridge.

Behind them in pain and death, and they can’t go back. They can’t change that. They can only go forward.

“Yeah. We’ll save them.” Ryou hears that same resolve in his own voice.

If they can give two innocent beings a chance at life, and save them from Haggar’s control....

None of this was worth that. But at least Ryou will be able to sleep at night again.

_ I’m sorry,  _ he says, one last time. He means it to each and every one of the clones, who he hopes won’t stir before their final moments. Ryou keeps his eyes open, trying not to blink as the pods and the facility become smaller and smaller, until they can no longer be seen. It’s the best he could do as a final tribute.

_ For you. We’ll save them for you. _

Maybe Ryou in particular did nothing to deserve this life. Maybe his existence cost more clones their essence and parts of themselves. 

But he’s the one that’s left. And he’ll do this for all of them.


End file.
